With Apple's iPhone 5 already off to a record setting start, market watchers have expressed greater confidence that Apple could sell as many as 10 million units before the current quarter ends on September 29.

A benchmark score logged on Sunday with Primate Labs' online Geekbench reportedly details the specifics of Apple's iPhone 5, with the new smartphone outperforming the average scores of every iOS and Android device on the website.

Blueprints of the iPhone 5 intended for aftermarket product manufacturers have been made available on Apple's developer website, with the documents offering not only precise dimensions but notes on how to properly build a case for the new device.

With Apple's US carrier partners charging existing subscribers higher fees for this year's iPhone model, AppleInsider took a closer look at trade in services that can help offset some of these added costs when you sell them your old iPhone.

Driven by the new A6 processor, LTE 4G high-speed modem and Retina display with in-cell touch technology, the new iPhone 5 is estimated to cost Apple $167.50 in materials alone for the entry-level 16-gigabyte model.

With Apple sold out of launch date inventory for the iPhone 5 in just over an hour, U.S. carriers AT&T and Verizon saw their estimated arrival dates also begin to slip past Sept. 21 as of Friday afternoon.

With a little over three hours to go before Apple opens up pre-orders for the iPhone 5, the company's online storefront, as well as AT&T's entire site, has gone down in preparation for what is expected to be an onslaught of traffic.

A pair of AppleInsider readers claim they were able to procure an iPhone 5 pre-order directly from an AT&T authorized reseller in New Jersey some 12 hours before official pre-orders are set to go live on Friday morning.